How to save a life
by Tia Bella
Summary: When characters are in trouble Stephanie is ready to patch them up with her new found First Aid knowledge. No romance, so safe for Babe, cupcake or tart.
1. Prologue  The Letter

Thank you for reading this story. I recently went on a First Aid course and it taught me a lot of basic things that could save someone's life. My hope with this story is readers will pick up some of the knowledge so in the event they will need to help they could potentially save someone's life. Please note that as a UK author everything in this is going by UK standards and advice. I hope you enjoy it.

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><p>Prologue<p>

Stephanie looked at the letter in her hands, hoping that the words on the page would change. She couldn't believe he was going to put her through this. She reread the words in front of her.

Dear Ms Plum

You have been booked on the First Aid at Work course to be held at Rangeman on Haywood Street, Trenton on 7th-9th March 2012.

All materials required will be provided on the day. Our aim is to make sure no one dies through a lack of first aid training.

For any queries lease contact your local representative, Dr Brown.

Sincerely

Frederick Rodrigues

A First Aid course. Just what she always wanted. When she signed back up to working for Ranger full time and he mentioned this time she would have to go through training this is not what she was expecting. So far she had found she was enjoying the benefits of the rest of the training, feeling fitter, having a more toned stomach and legs and being able to catch skips easier. Plus the extra time spent working with the Merry Men was fun.

But First Aid? She hated the sight of blood and was squeamish looking at wounds and now they wanted to teach her how to fix them? This felt like a disaster in the making and she just hoped she would not feint and/or throw up in front of everyone.

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><p>I need your help. I want to make this as entertaining as possible and for that I would like readers to propose ideas for situations in which one of the characters could find themselves requiring treatment but without it being too heavy. Any suggestions leave them in a review or PM.<p> 


	2. Leg wound

Thank you to those of you who have put this story on alert, it means a lot to me that you have hope in the story after just the short prologue. This chapter was inspired by bgrgrmpy. I am in the middle of writing another chapter, but this one would not get out of my brain and before I knew it it was finished. I do not have a Beta, if anyone would like to volunteer I would appreciate the help to get it more American.

The treatment in this chapter is advised first aid practice. The term 'dressing' means a bandage with sterile pad in it that covers the wound. There will be further explanation of the first aid at the end. I hope you enjoy it.

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><p>Chapter 1 - Leg wound<p>

"Fuck!" Stephanie looked around at the sound of the gunshot and Ranger's expletive.

They were in the gun range at Rangeman doing some target practice so while the gunshot was not unexpected the bad language was, Ranger very rarely swore. She had been working on improving and experimenting with different guns for a few months and had improved drastically. She still didn't like guns and was wary of carry them loaded, always worrying about accidently shooting herself, and now it looked like her caution was for a good reason.

Ranger was bent over, hand on his inner thigh and she could see blood seeping through his fingers, not a good sign. Straightening up from tying her laces she put her gun on the side and pulled off her goggles and ear protectors.

"Babe, First Aid kit" Ranger stated.

Steph pulled herself together and retrieved the First Aid kit from its hook on the wall by the door. She knew that the people on monitors would most likely already have called for help and be on their way down, but for now it was up to her to help Ranger.

"Lay on your back" she said to Ranger as she made her way to him.

"It's just a scratch, I'll be fine" he stated, refusing to do as she requested. "Stubborn men!" She thought to herself.

"Lay down" she repeated as she reached him. She contemplated pushing him over, thinking that in his weakened condition she might be able to manage it, but didn't want to risk giving him a concussion or facing his revenge at a later date, so she took the easier option. "Please" she added.

Ranger sighed and lay down; never able to refuse when she used that word. Less than 30 seconds had passed since the gun shot, but there was already a sizeable amount of blood that he had lost.

Once he was down Stephanie raised his leg so his foot was laying over her shoulder and hand still pressing on the wound. Immediately the amount of blood being lost was reduced. Steph opened the First aid kit and then realised she had a problem; she could not dress the wound properly while he was wearing his combat trousers. This was not something that they had covered in her training. She made the professional decision that the trousers would have to go and the easiest way to do that was to get Ranger to lift his backside and pull them down.

"I need to get rid of these trousers, lift up so I can pull them down." she instructed while reaching for his waistband. One of his hands grabbed her wrist and tried to pull it away.

"Can't do that" he said rather sheepishly, and for the first time since she had known him he looked embarrassed.

"Why? I need to be able to get to the injury, can't do that with your trousers on and pulling them down will be quickest."

Ranger blew out a sigh and mumbled. "Because I haven't got anything on under them."

Stephanie allowed herself a brief grin before moving on to plan B. She reached in to the box and pulled out the pair of scissors in there and cut down the leg to where the cut was and got them out of the way as best as she could.

She then pulled out some anti-septic wipes and a dressing and began wiping around the areas as best as she could with Ranger's hand in the way before opening the dressing and getting Ranger to remove his hand. She managed to keep down a grimace at the sight and put the dressing on top before beginning to wrap the rest of the dressing around his leg as much as she could making sure to seal both the top and bottom of the dressing before tying the knot on top of where the wound was located.

Just as she was finishing off the knot Bobby, Lester and Tank came running into the gun range and Bobby was carrying his medical bag with him. Lester and Tank were both grinning, no doubt having already found out exactly how the injury occurred.

Bobby took a quick look at Steph's work before looking at her "Good job Bomber," he praised "nicely done; now go and wash your hands." Steph looked down at her hands for the first time noticing the blood on them and the handprint that Ranger had left when he grabbed her wrist. As Steph walked off to clean up Tank and Lester helped Ranger up so they could get him up to Bobby's medical office to have his wound stitched.

Steph washed her hands and mentally began reciting the list of 5 things that she needed to do now.

Clean up the mess and dispose of anything safely

Inform the next of kin

Write up the incident in the accident book

Restock the first aid kit

Take some time for herself

Feeling in control she started clearing up the mess that Ranger had left. She wiped up the blood that was left and gathered the used anti-septic wipes before chucking them all in the yellow hazardous waste disposal bags. She would take them up to Bobby later so he could get rid of them, she didn't know if they had an incinerator on site or if he took it elsewhere. Once it was as clean as she could get it she called up to Ella to ask about getting the area bleached, or whatever they used to get rid of blood, it'd not like blood is an unusual sight around the building, although usually it was in the gym.

She thought about informing the next of kin, she was pretty sure in this situation it wasn't necessary and so moved on to her next task, writing what happened up. She didn't know where the reporting book was, but though Bobby would and made the decision to go up to see him and she could take the waste up at the same time.

When she made it to his office she knocked and waited for a response before going in. As she entered she noticed Ranger was sat up and Bobby was just finishing wrapping his leg back up. She smiled when she noticed that he had changed into a pair of silk boxers and was a little disappointed that she wasn't there to see him changing. It had been a while since she was last with someone and she was beginning to crave the touch of another human.

"I've brought up the waste from downstairs" she told Bobby "I wasn't sure what to do with it".

"Leave it by the door, I'll get rid of it later with this lot" he said gesturing to the mess in the tray beside himself. "While you're here I'd just like to say you done a great job with this, but you need to remember to wear gloves before you start treating, you never know what conditions the casualty has. I wouldn't want you to catch something when you're trying to help someone."

Steph nodded her head in acceptance, she knew she was wrong in not wearing them, but with  
>Ranger the thought didn't even cross her mind. The only time gloves were involved with him is in very different circumstances and he was the one to wear it for their protection from a completely different issue. "I know. I won't forget again I promise."<p>

"Good" was all he said is response.

"I need to write this up, where's the accident book?" she asked and then began to contemplate exactly how she's write it. Thinking about it she didn't know how it had happened. She had been bending down to retie her laces when it happened and hadn't seen it. "How did it happen?" she continued, aiming her second question at Ranger.

No matter how he said this he knew he was going to be getting crap from the guys for a while for this. Tank, Lester and Bobby had already been giving him hell for it and knew if it had been anyone else they would have been getting a lecture on gun safety. "I was... distracted and my finger accidently hit the trigger"

Bobby let out a bark of laughter. "That's not how the guys on monitors tell it. They said you were staring at Steph's arse when she bent over, went to adjust yourself and it set the gun off". Ranger's glare failed to silence Steph's or Bobby's laughter and he climbed off the bed before limping out of the room and going up to his apartment, there was no way he could face his men now.

Stephanie sat writing up her report, giggling as she thought about the incident. Bobby sat with her as she wrote it, talking her through what had happened and what she had been thinking as she done it. She recognised his that he was helping her process what had happened and enjoyed the sweet tea he had given her and the opportunity to bond with him.

She gave it back to Bobby when it was finished for him to file with the other accident reports and grabbed some new supplies from Bobby's stores to refill the First Aid kit and went back downstairs. Once she had finished replacing it she went up to Ranger's apartment to provide him with some TLC.

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><p>Thank you for reading this, I hope you found it both amusing and informative. The reason she got Ranger to lay down was as getting an injury above the heart means that it is harder for the blood to get there so blood loss is reduced. Please note that the treatment is different for an incident involving a head injury in which case the patient would be kept with their head upright (as seen in a later chapter).<p>

The 5 steps outlined are the ones that are recommended by St John's Ambulance for dealing with any First Aid incident. The final one is because dealing with an incident can lead to delayed shock, something that can occur up to 72 hours after an incident and applies to not only those who treated the injury but also those who were around, such as bystanders and colleagues. In this it wasn't such as big thing, the Merry Men have dealt with worse, however Bobby recognises Stephanie's need to process the incident and acts as a mentor in discussing it with her.


	3. Sucking Chest Wound

Chapter 2 – Sucking Chest Wound

I keep forgetting to write, I don't own the characters, I am just playing with them. This applies for all chapters.

Thank you to all those who have left a review or put this story on alert, each email I receive makes me very happy and inspires me to write more. I promise to reply to every review I get.

An advanced warning the injury in this is pretty sever, although not too gory. It is also not something most people are likely to come across, but knowing the simple treatment could save someone's life. I hope you enjoy it.

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><p>Stephanie could feel the adrenaline being to flow through her veins and sat focusing on the task at hand. She was sat in the car around the corner of the house that the skip was believed to be located in. She had dropped Hal off around the back of the house a couple of minutes previously and was waiting for his signal that he was in position and ready.<p>

She felt her phone vibrate on her thigh and put the car into gear driving to the front of the skips house. The man they were after was Shane 'Marshy' Marshall, wanted for fraud, but known to be violent. He was a higher stakes skip than she used to go after, but with her training and assistance from Rangeman she was hopeful that this would be a successful capture. He wasn't a big guy and would not stand out in a crowd.

She done one last check of the gear; handcuffs at the small of her back, pepper spray on her left hip, stun gun at the right, phone in her right pocket, S&W in her hand. Taking one last deep breath she climbed out of the car and started walking to the front of the house. She rapped on the door three times and then stepped to the side so she could not be seen through the spyhole.

The sounds of the locks tumbling open gave Steph the split second warning she needed so as soon as the door was opened she stepped in front of it and pushed as hard as she could, hoping to take the felon by surprise and push him over. Or that was the plan. The door was still on a catch and she failed to push hard enough to break it to force the door open.

She saw the skip look at her through the gap and he turned and ran through his house to go out the back door. She was glad that they had factored this escape route in to their plan and knew that Hal would have it covered. She reached in to her left pocket where she had started to keep things that could be useful, including a bit of hooked wire, useful for picking locks and in this case hooking around the chain and with some luck and skill undoing it, granting her access to the house.

At the back of the house she heard some scuffling and a cry of surprise followed by a couple of thuds. She ran to the back door and accessed the scene in front of her. Both Hal and the skip were on the floor, Hal on his back and Marshy on his front. Hal was holding a hand to his chest while Marshy appeared to be unconscious, at least that's what she assumed from his lack of movement, and she hoped he wasn't dead.

She looked at Hal and saw the pain etched across his features, he let out a cough and the hand he had in front of his mouth came away with spatters of blood. She dropped to her knees in front of him and pulled his hand away from his chest and saw the blood on his shirt surrounding a small hole, looking around she spotted a knife a short distance away. She switched into her medical mode and began to assess what she needed to do. She knew that with that injury she needed to keep him laying so his upper body was propped up, leaning towards the side that was injured so the functioning lung would be able to work as efficiently as possible. As he was close to a wall she helped him to move slightly, providing reassurance.

"I need to get some things to help you, I'll be back in a minute" she told him

"Cuff Marshall first" was his reply. His voice was weaker than normal and his speech was wheezy. She knew he was right and went to Marshall, quickly cuffing him behind his back. Once done she ran into the kitchen looking for something to treat the wound with.

She remembered her phone in her pocket and called Rangeman to let them know what happened, knowing they would send back up and an ambulance to help them. "Hal's been stabbed, we need backup and an ambulance, he has a sucking chest wound, I'm going to cover it but I need help" she told them.

"We have your location Bomber, we're on our way and an ambulance will be there soon. Eta 5 minutes for a team". She hung up and went searching.

She found some sellotape and scissors and looked around for something plastic. She spotted a credit card sized piece of plastic on the side by some white powder. She grabbed the card and washed it quickly under a tap before grabbing the sellotape and taking both out to Hal. A glace told her that his breathing was getting worse; it was becoming shallow and laboured.

She knelt down next to him, cut open his shirt so she could pull it completely away from his chest. She held up the card in front of her so it was portrait and laid in over the wound. It was in placed so the long sides were parallel to his sides, with the short ends parallel to his shoulders. She then had it tilted so the short end nearest his head was pointed towards the base of his throat and the bottom was angled off the side of his body.

"Ok Hal, I need you to hold this here for me." She decided the best way to keep his focused and alert was to talk to him and get him to help her, and it would make it a lot easier if he could help. She then used the sellotape to seal down the two long edges and the top sort edge, but left the bottom free. When she was done she noticed an improvement in his breathing. While it still wasn't great it allowed his lungs to inflate easier with the card acting as a temporary valve. When Hal breathed in the card was drawn to the wound, this sealed it and allowed the lungs to inflate, when he breathed out it released and allowed air to escape.

"Is that better?" she asked

"Hurts like hell." He replied with a grimace "Why didn't you get the first aid kit from the truck?"

Steph tried to think of a good reason. The truth was she forgot they had a first aid kit in there and just grabbed what was at hand.

"Did he cut you anywhere else?" she asked, trying to change the subject. Hal showed her his right hand. Looking at it Steph noticed the cut across his palm for the first time. Now that the worst injury was treated she wanted to deal with anything else. She moved his arm so the hand was resting on his shoulder, making it above the heart to reduce blood loss. "Can you keep that there for me while I go and get the kit?" she took his slight nod as he would be able to and got up and ran to get the first aid kit and blankets from the car.

On her return she pulled out a bandage dressing from its wrapper and got him to grip it in his injured hand. She then opened another dressing and unrolled it to the sterile pad. She removed the bandage he had been holding and put the dressing shiny side down over the wound, placed the firs bandage back on top of the dressing and got him to grip it again. She then wrapped the rest of the dressing around his hand so it looked like a boxing glove making sure the bottom of the dressing was sealed but leaving his thumb free. Once she tied it off she placed his hand back over his shoulder and covered him as much as she could with a blanket but making sure to leave his injuries uncovered.

She then started to ask him the important questions that the paramedics would need to know. She remembered the acronym that they were taught

A – Allergies

M – Medication

P – Previous medical history

L – Last meal

E – Event history

"Hal I need to know some of your medical history so I'm going to ask you some questions ok?" she knew Bobby probably knew all this but she didn't know if he'd arrive before the ambulance. Hal nodded his head in response. "Do you have any allergies?"

"No"

"Have you taken any medication today?"

"No"

"Are you meant to take any medication?"

"No"

"Are there any medical conditions that we need to know?"

"No"

Steph could hear the sound of the ambulance approaching.

"Ok, when did you last eat and what did you have?"

"Omelette at 6 am"

"Ok, good" She heard the paramedics shouting at the front door "We're outside the back door" she shouted to them. As they came out they moved to Hal and started to assess him as she gave them the information she told them. One of the paramedics ran back to get a chair so they could move him to the ambulance.

The one remaining looked at how she had treated him, "This has been done well, and I'm not going to touch it until we get to the hospital." The other paramedic returned with the chair and together they got him into it. "How about that one?" they asked

"Don't know" she replied honestly. Other than cuffing him she hadn't spared him a thought. He had twitched a bit but she was more concerned with Hal. "He was the one that stabbed Hal, he's wanted for being FTA".

He moved over to Marshy and gave him a look over, moving him into a slightly better position as close to the recovery position as he could get with Marshy's arms still bound behind his back. He got on his radio to request another ambulance and a police escort. As he was finishing the request she heard the sound of another vehicle pulling up. A moment later Eddie Gazarra came out the back.

"Hey Steph, heard a Rangeman call go out and thought I'd come over. He yours?" he questioned nodding towards Marshy.

"He's FTA" she responded.

"I'm going to go and get the other casualty to hospital, an ambulance should be here soon, I don't think this one is in any danger and getting the other patient to hospital is a priority." With that he gathered his kit. Stephanie got up and went to follow.

"Steph I need you to stay here." She stopped and looked at him.

"I need to go with Hal"

"I need you to stay here, a Rangeman car was pulling up as I did and they will stay with Hal." At that she heard the ambulance pulling away and Tank came out the back.

Having heard Eddie's comment he confirmed it. "Bobby's gone with Hal".

Looking at the scene Eddie spotted the forgotten knife. "Is that the weapon?" He asked. Steph confirmed that it was, and Eddie went to retrieve the evidence collection kit from his car.

Steph spent the next 30 minutes answering questions and watching Marshy being taken away in another ambulance with a police escort. Eddie could see she was beginning to flag as the adrenaline left her and decided to let her go asking her to come to the police station to sign a statement at a later date.

Once done she went with Tank to go and see Hal. He was released several days later to recuperate under Bobby's supervision and made a full recovery. Thanks to Steph's quick actions he did not suffer a pneumothorax, without it he could have suffered the collapsed lung and potentially died. It was the last time he went after a skip or responded to an incident without his stab and bullet proof vest on.

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><p>The AMPLE synonym is something worth remembering as being able to gather that information early in an incident will not only save time for the paramedics, but also mean that if the casualty would pass into unconsciousness later that they would have that vital knowledge. It also allows you to assess the patient's level of awareness and keep their mind off the injury. Had the cut on the hand been vertical rather than horizontal she would have had his stretch his fingers out straight rather than clenched.<p>

How am I doing so far? Was the last chapter amusing enough? Was this one too serious? I'd really appreciate some feedback on my writing. I still don't have a Beta, so if you spot any mistakes please let me know.

I'm not going to be updating on a set schedule, I write when I'm inspired and then upload so if you don't want to miss any please put it on alert. Sorry to anyone who got a double alert for the last chapter, I'm still figuring out how to use ffn.


	4. Sometimes things are better left alone

Disclaimer. This is fiction, the only medical training I have had is a first aid course. I recommend if you are interested in first aid that you seek professional training. I am not responsible if anyone puts into action anything they read in this.

**If you haven't been please make sure to read all A/N from me, especially at the end of chapters. Some contain additional information about what has happened and could be the difference between saving a life and ending it.**

This is more of a fun chapter after the seriousness of the last one. The delay in this chapter has partially been down to the fantastic weather the UK is experiencing at the moment – my muse and imagination are both sunbathing and refusing to do anything. The inspiration for this chapter came from First Generation Scot.

I have been wondering if I should continue or just remove the story. When I started I didn't take into consideration how hard it would be to constantly hurt the characters that I love. My idealism was to teach people some basic first aid in a relatively fun manor, however with a lot of injuries how can you make it fun? The first chapter with Ranger was easy and fun, and I hope this will be too, however for all other chapters it will be a lot heavier (could you make a stroke fun?), and looking at the number of reviews for each chapter (8 for chapter 2, 3 for chapter 2) shows me people do not enjoy the serious stories much. So is it worth continuing to write a story if people do not want to read it? All the doubt makes it harder to write. I still don't know if I should continue but I had an idea for a fun chapter and thought I should share it.

The house in it is based on the William Trent House in Trenton (the oldest house in Trenton according to Wikipedia), it is now a museum, but you'll have to ignore that bit for the sake of fiction. I have also changed and updated where some of the rooms are to match how I imagine they would be now.

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><p>Chapter 3 – Sometimes things are better left alone, sometimes you make a tent<p>

As part of her ongoing 'development' Ranger had decided that Stephanie needed to understand all aspects of what Rangeman does, including instillations. Steph's understanding of the systems and how they worked was limited; while she had consulted on a few jobs to get a female perspective she had never seen it any further along.

Today she was riding along with Hector and Slick to install a new top of the range system in the home of a multi-millionaire. From what she understood of it the system compromised of cameras, alarms and motion detectors and she was going to be helping install them. When she was first told she would be doing this she tried to explain to Ranger that it was a bad idea, with her history someone would probably end up getting electrocuted.

"Babe" Ranger had started "Hector and Slick know what they're doing, no one will get hurt because of you, I promise" he tried to reassure her.

"It's your fault if anything happens, I've told you this is not going to be good" She turned and left his office. Probably not the most mature response but it was how she felt.

Steph woke up the morning of the instillation with a feeling of dread. She went through her morning routine, having a shower, putting on a little makeup and pulling her hair up. At 9am a Rangeman car pulled up outside her building and she went down to meet her ride.

"Hola, Hector. Hi Slick" she said climbing into the back of the vehicle.

"Hola," came Hectors reply, Slick just glanced at her in the rear view mirror. It looked like today was going to be fun, one man who only spoke Spanish and another who didn't speak at all.

They drove in silence for the next 20 minutes to the resident they were to be working at. On arrival at the location Steph was amazed at the size and grandeur of the place. Calling it a house was an understatement, mansion was a better description. It was an old looking brick building with a big tree out the front with a beautiful white wood and glass turret on top in the centre of the building.

Slick began the briefing "This is the oldest house in Trenton, Trenton was named after the man it was built for, William Trent. Ground floor we have 3 parlours, and a kitchen, the second floor has 4 large bedrooms with recently added en-suites and there is a basement with a games room/ safety room. 2 main entrances, 12 windows on the ground floor, 14 on the second. Cameras will monitor entrances and exits as well as cameras in the corridors. Motion sensors on the windows will activate cameras monitoring them. Panic alarms will be fitted throughout the house that will be silent in the house, but alert Rangeman when activated. The owners are currently away and will be for the next week while we do this at their summer house. Questions?" Stephanie was just wondering what she could do all day, at least she didn't have to worry about talking to owners, maybe she could find a book somewhere, it wasn't something she'd normally do whilst working but this wasn't a normal day.

Slick and Hector grabbed the kit they would need out of the back of the car and led the way into the house. It was just as beautiful inside as it had been from the outside. She looked around trying to take it all in. While it wasn't as grand as she imagined some of the old houses in Britain could be it was beautiful in its own way.

Slick decided it would be easiest to do it a room at a time. She followed them into the room and was sad to see all the furniture had been covered over, presumably to stop it getting dusty while the owners were away and they were working. Hector walked over to one of the windows and started examining it, touching around the edges and opening and closing it. Steph looked out the window, expecting to see a beautiful view that would match the beauty of the house, and was sad to see the fence and road outside. It didn't see right and wondered what the surrounding area looked like when the house was first built.

When Hector started pulling out power tools Steph moved away, not wanting to be too close and risk injuring Hector. Hector and Slick worked methodically installing everything and calling Rangeman periodically to check if things were working before moving on to the next task. Steph tried to show an interest in what they were doing, but she just kept drifting off into thought.

After several hours of work Steph started feeling hungry and hoped that they would soon be able to stop for lunch. She changed between wondering where they would go and what they would have for lunch and, when it appeared they weren't going to take a break, if she could walk into Trenton. She didn't want to give up as it would let Ranger down; if he sent her here he had his reasons, even if she couldn't work out what those reasons were.

She was slouched on a covered sofa watching Slick. While he didn't say much, like most merry men he was a pleasure to watch, the tight t-shirt showing his every movement. He currently had a pressure nail gun in his hand with scary looking 4 inch nails that were shot out of it. Looking back on it Steph still could not work out what happened next.

He had been nailing away when Steph decided to ask about lunch. It appeared that Slick had forgotten she was there and jumped at her voice. He didn't just jump but he twisted around to her and somehow the nail gun, which was operated when force was applied at the end where the nail came out, came down and there was the sound of the nail gun firing. Followed by Slick's exclamation of surprise and pain as a nail was driven through his derrière.

Slick reflexively dropped the nail gun with the unfortunate consequence that another nail was discharged that ricocheted off the solid floor and into his shin on the same side that the first nail had gone into. Steph's first reaction was that she knew something would happen; her second was that she better get the first aid kit.

"I'm so sorry," she apologised "Lay on your side with your injured leg raised it you can; I'm going to get the first aid kit from the car". She turned and ran to the car, before remembering Slick still had the car keys. She went back in and grabbed the keys off Slick, giving him an apology before going back to retrieve the kit.

Hector had helped Slick get down and was holding his injured leg as elevated as he could without causing problems to the nail in his buttock. He was on the phone; she presumed it was to Rangeman telling them she had managed to do it again. At least they were close to Trenton so response shouldn't take long.

She got the scissors out of the first aid kit and carefully cut some of the fabric away to give better access. She cut it so there was a circle left around where the nail was sticking out and was able to gently remove the remains off the nail as it had been pushed slightly away from the skin by the force of the shot. Had they not been Rangeman trousers she might have been more careful in cutting the trousers by cutting along the seams where possible so they might be able to be repaired later. Once it was free she looked at both sides of the sound, but there was nothing she could really do for the side where the nail went in, but the head of the nail was acting as a plug preventing blood from exiting there.

She got 2 dressings and placed one on either side of the nail so it was between them and no longer sticking out, careful to move it as little as possible. Had it been a bigger object there would have been a tent over the object. She then got another bandage and carefully wrapped it around the leg and dressings to hold them in place with the dressing over the wound at the other side to protect it as much as possible. This would keep the wound as stable and sterile as possible and she was glad the nails weren't longer. If they had been and they had stuck out over the dressings either side she would have wound the third bandage around either side of the nail.

She took a quick look at the other nail, but with its location it wasn't possible to cover it with any dressings and she wanted to disturb it as little as possible so she chose to leave it. Sometimes the best thing to do is to call in the experts and leave it alone until they arrive.

While doing it she was constantly talking to Slick, asking him the normal AMPLE questions to pass on to the paramedics when they arrived. She also found some sheets to cover him over with to keep him warm and reduce the risk of him going into shock, although with a nail in his backside and another through his shin she wasn't sure how effective she would be, but every little helps.

"Water please" Slick asked.

"Sorry, I can't give you any, I can put some on your lips if they're dry, but that's all you can have for now." She knew that there was a good chance that he would need surgery and the emptier his stomach was the less chance there would be he could have a reaction to the anaesthetic. It was also told to them that it is unadvisable to give anything to people who might be going into shock caused by physical trauma as it could cause them to be physically sick, causing them even more pain.

A few minutes later the paramedics arrived and got slick onto a stretcher before whisking him off to the nearest hospital to have his recent additions removed. As he was being taken away a Rangeman car pulled up with Ranger in the front sheet. He took a quick look at Slick, letting him know Bobby would be waiting at A & E to help with him before coming over to Steph.

"Me saying you couldn't injure my men was not a challenge." He greeted her with a smile.

Steph sighed "I warned you something would happen. I could feel it."

"Babe." He sighed and kissed her on the top of the head before leading her to his car.

* * *

><p>When a wound has something in it ALWAYS leave it alone. If it has cut through a major vessel or artery it will be keeping the blood in, to remove the object would allow the blood to leave and someone could bleed to death in minutes.<p>

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

If you're looking for something else to read I highly recommend financebabe. Her stories are amazing. Most recommended are Being a Woman and 3 of Hearts.


	5. A day with Bobby and Steph Part 1

A day with Bobby and Steph Part 1

This is a longer story from multiple POVs that will be split over different chapters following a day with Steph and Bobby. Thanks to trhodes9 who's guidance has made me try something new.

The story of the burnt woman in this is based on a real incident, please learn from her mistake and don't let it happen to you. **Please read the advice at the bottom of the story**. Thank you to carrotmusic who has read over this and checked its medical accuracy. IT hasn't been checked for spelling or grammatical errors, if you spot one please let me know so I can correct it.

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><p>Steph POV<p>

I was sat on the bench on the roof of the Rangeman building with Bobby. After seeing my success in dealing with the injuries that Ranger, Hal and Slick's injuries I wanted to spend some time with Bobby to learn what I could from him.

Today is the first day that we are to spend together and we're on call to deal with any incidents that come up during the day. I'm hoping it will quiet, not only because having to respond will mean someone is in trouble but because it is supposed to be a really nice today. It was only a few weeks ago that we had snow, the last couple of days had been warm, but today it was supposed to get up to reach 70o and I am determined to enjoy it. We had been sitting here for 30 minutes and the day was starting to warm up as promised.

"How did you become a medic for Rangeman?" I asked him. I knew he had served in one of the armed forces, but I didn't know which one.

"I got a commission from the army to go through Medical School and then spent several years in service as an army medic, when I left I heard about Rangeman and came to work as the company medic." He explained. It was the most I had heard him say at once, but I wanted to know more.

"Why a medic, and why through commission?" I pressed, wanting to know more about him.

"I was an army brat, so from a young age I was surrounded by the life and knew I wanted to serve. My mum was a nurse on base and worked with injured servicemen and women helping to rehabilitate them. She'd take me to work with her and as I grew older I started helping out where I could and decided that I wanted to train as a medic. It made sense to do the training on commission so I wouldn't have to pay for it."

"So if you got into it to help service men and women recover, why haven't you gone back to do that? Why Rangeman?" It was nice to be able to spend this time with Bobby and get to know him.

"At the moment I don't want to be restricted to medical work, when I get too old to do field work I plan to go back." I took a proper look at the man in front of me. Like all the Rangemen he was tall, muscular and handsome and now I was getting the opportunity to see the beauty inside him as well. I stared a moment to long, he noticed me looking and a bright smile flashed across his face. Busted.

"I need a drink" I told him getting up from the bench "do you want one?"

"Sure, I'll come down with you" he stood up and stretched, before grabbing his medic bag off the floor next to him "that way if I get a call I won't have to come find you."

We walked back down the stairs to the kitchen on 5 and while he took a seat at the table I went to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water. I generally preferred my drinks caffeinated, carbonated or both, but none of that was stocked in this kitchen, even the coffee was de-caff. I walked back over to the table and took a seat with my back to the door facing into the kitchen; it was generally the only seat I could sit in as none of the men would sit there and it meant I was facing the TV in the kitchen.

As I sipped at the water I watched the international news on the TV, reading the subtitles at the bottom of the page. The current story about Aung San Suu Kyi winning a by-election in Burma ended and moved to a story about a woman in the UK who was burnt pouring petrol into a jug. I continued to read the story in wonder that people are actually stupid enough to do what she had done.

The woman had filled up a jerry can with petrol after hearing that there might be a petrol tanker strike across Easter and she wanted to make sure she would have some in case she needed it. Her daughter's car needed petrol and so the woman attempted to decant it from the secure container into a jug. She done it in her kitchen, with no ventilation and the cooker was on, cooking her dinner. The fumes were unable to disperse and were ignited by the cooker, giving her 40% burns.

Bobby was also watching the news and as the report came to an end we looked at each other.

"Please tell me you would never do anything like that!" I didn't know whether to be pleased that he cared enough to make sure I wouldn't do it, or irritated that he thought I didn't know better. I gave him a look to show I didn't appreciate the question, but also shook my head in answer. He then appeared that this was a good time to test my medical knowledge "What treatment would you have given her at the scene?"

"Well, first priority is to get the burning to stop. To do this it is best to get it under some cold running water. As she had all over burns the easiest way would probably be by getting her outside and use a hose on a low pressure to get water over her. I'd get someone to get a blanket or something to prevent her from having to lie on mud. She's going to be in shock so she'll need to lie down; I'm assuming most of the burns were to her front. I'd remove any jewellery as soon as possible so they won't get stuck with the swelling. I'd also try and cut her clothes so that as she does start swelling they won't be restricting her breathing. If it was less severe or restricted to one part, I would keep it under water for 10 minutes and then wrap it in cling film to keep out infection, but with this much of a burn I think the time it would take to remove the heat from the burns would give the paramedics time to arrive and take over. "

Bobby smiled and nodded his head "Good, what other things would you need to be careful of if you're covering her whole body with cold water for so long?"

"Hypothermia?" I questioned. We hadn't really covered anything this severe in training but that stood to reason.

"What danger signs would you look out for?" he was really pushing me.

"Cyanosis or blue lips or skin, shivering and unconsciousness. If the burns are that severe I doubt she'd be complaining of pain as most of her receptors would have been killed off. But I really think with something that bad the priority would be to stop the burning and maintain an airway until the professionals arrive and take over."

"You're correct, although naturally keeping her breathing and heart beating are the most important elements." He paused when his pager went off "That's our call lets go" he said grabbing his bag and we left to deal with our first incident.

* * *

><p>Advice for storage of fuel at home (UK advice):<p>

Don't store it at home unless absolutely necessary (e.g. fuel strike and you work in a vital service (fire, police or medical) and will need it to ensure you can get to work).

If you need to keep it in a regulation storage container.

Fuel containers must not be stored in living accommodation such as kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms or under staircases. Any storage place should be well away from living areas in case of fire and it should be secured, to protect against the possibility of vandalism or arson.

When decanting from storage:

No smoking and no naked lights in the vicinity

Decant in the open air – not inside the garage

Use a pouring spout or funnel; and

If clothing is splashed with fuel, change it immediately.

As it said in the story, the most important thing with burns is to remove the heat, not only the source of the heat but also the ongoing heat in the injury that will keep the skin burning. To do this get it under cold running water for a minimum of 10 minutes while waiting for help to arrive. Even with minor burns it is best to get them under water as soon and as long as possible, even if it won't require hospital treatment. If cold running water is unavailable anything cold and neutral would suffice (such as milk). **Never put creams or ointements or anything of that kind onto fresh burns, even if they say they are for burns. They are for after treatment has been received in hospital and all heat has been removed. Putting them on early will trap in the heat and cause the burn to continue, causing more damage.** Remove any clothing from around the area, but DO NOT remove anything stuck to the burn. One the heat has been removed cover loosely with a non fibrous covering (cling film is ideal) to minimise the chance of infection. Treat for shock and do not allow them to eat or drink anything.

If the burn is to an elderly person or child get them some medical advice. A burn to the palm of a hand, face or sole of the foot, no matter how minor must be seen in a hospital as the scar tissue on the hand or foot of a child will prevent them from growing properly and lead to a clawing effect. Scars to the face should be seen by a specialist to minimise scaring for obvious reasons.


	6. A day with Bobby and Steph Part 2

This is the previous chapter but from Bobby's perspective. I have tried to keep the repetition to a minimum and take it on from where Steph's ended to what they had to face next. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter to those that celebrate it.

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><p>Bobby POV<p>

I got up this morning and knew it was going to be an interesting day. Today I was spending the day working with Steph, taking her on any calls that I got.

When Ranger first told me he wanted her to be First Aid trained I doubted she'd even turn up to the course. So, when she did turn up on the first day, I was pleased she was making the effort, although I wondered if it was just because she was being forced, in which case she wouldn't learn much. The first part of the morning she mostly sat quietly in the corner, taking notes about what was being said but no interaction. After going through some basics it was time for a coffee break. We went through to the room next door and I watched as Steph grabbed a coffee and sat in a chair. I watched as she consumed the caffeine and could see the effect it had on her. As she continued to consume the substance her eyes brightened and she started paying more attention to chat was going on. She finished her first cup and went for a refill. This time instead of sitting down she went to where a couple of guys were stood talking and joined in their conversation. On returning to the practice room she was much more animated, asking questions and taking part.

Her enthusiasm to take part did lead to some amusing moments during the course. Doing CPR a couple of men opposite were almost hypnotised by her movement, I was glad that their dummies were not real as they would have been dead. Naturally Steph noticed and called them out on it. And when we were covering how to role a patient with a spinal injury onto a board Steph ended up leant over the groin of the patient, Woody, leading to a very visible reaction of him living up to his name. Woody soon proved he did not have an injury, leaving the room in a hurry, returned looking flushed a little while later. I do not what was worse, that he had to go, or that he was back so quick.

Doing physical checks was also an issue; standard procedure in training was to have males doing males and females doing females. With Steph being the only female on the course this was not possible. I originally thought that as they were all grown men that having them search Steph would not be an issue as long as it was made clear that her chest and top of her legs would not need checking at any point. We didn't even get that far, the first time they had the opportunity it deteriorated into a wrestling match over who got the chance to check her over. Then they got the opportunity to do some real first aid to repair the minor damage caused.

Although she was doing well at the training I didn't know if she intended to use what she'd gained outside the classroom. She had passed the test for her certificate with ease, with positive comments from the assessors about how good she was with the patients. This wasn't a huge surprise as we all know how good she is with people.

The following day she showed her pride in her achievement, showing her certificate to everyone around her and then hanging it up pride of place in her cubby. But the first time I really paid attention was when she came to me later that day asking about the first aid kits we keep and what we have in them. It was then I made the decision to do everything I would to encourage her interest in First Aid. With her generous and empathetic nature I knew she would be good at it, and so far she's proved me right.

I feel so proud of how far she's come along. When Ranger shot himself she didn't hesitate to deal with the wound and the way that she handled Cal's chest wound was impressive. Even first aider's with a lot of experience would usually hesitate on dealing with them, but she didn't. It was amusing to see how she forgot about the first aid kits in the car, but her on the spot dressing was in some ways even more impressive, it's one thing to do it with the proper kit, but to be able to make something up on the spot that works shows amazing initiative. I wasn't the only one to have noticed, it had been discussed at several meetings, and Cal feels something akin to hero worship for her for saving his life and had started referring to her as his nightingale. He had also taken it upon himself to watch over her, both physically and to defend her honour.

Ranger had been looking at bringing in another medic for a while; with the expansion in the business there is a growing need for someone who can attend scenes. I spend a lot of my time handling the day to day medical needs of the men, such as their yearly physicals, any jabs they need and checking on injuries that were healing. Having Steph trained more would mean she would be able to help with the emergency stuff and take some of the pressure off. The hard bit will be getting her to feel comfortable in taking on the role formally. Today was about getting her confidence up and build up her knowledge and experience.

I finished getting ready for the day and met her on floor 5. She was stood talking to the guys on the monitors and smiled as I approached.

"Can we go and sit on the roof?" she asked in greeting. I gave her an affirmative nod and she said goodbye to the guys, giving Cal a kiss on his tattoo and one to Binkie on his cheek. They both blushed at the contact, although she missed it when she turned away and walked to the lift. I shook my head at the way they both remained focused on her rather than the monitors they were supposed to be watching and followed her to where she was waiting.

"You realise it's only 3 flights don't you?" She gave me one of her looks that she gives when she's not impressed. I backed off and left her to get the lift while I walked. A man has to know when to cut his losses.

I was waiting on the sunny bench when she finally arrived in the lift. She walked over and flopped down on the seat next opposite me, tilting her head back to enjoy the sun on her face, even though the morning air is still chilly.

She began asking me questions about how I came to be the Rangeman medic. It had been a while since I really thought about it and I told her as much as I could. I like my life now; I get the rush of the chase and capture but without as much risk as on missions. I know one day I'll have to move on and hand it over to younger men, but I hope that won't be for many years yet. When I finished my latest question I waited for what she would ask next, Steph is renowned for being inquisitive, or nosy depending on whom you ask and once she gets started on a subject she's like a dog with a bone. When the question didn't come I looked at her and realised she was looking me up and down, when her eyes met mine I gave her a smile. She started blushing and abruptly rose stating she requires a drink.

I got up and followed her, telling her we needed to remain together in case we get a call. Really I thought there was a good chance that if she went off on her own she would get distracted by one of the men and be difficult to find later. The break room was surprisingly empty when we arrived. Steph grabbed 2 bottles of water, handing one to me and opening the other. She sat down in her chair that no one else used and settled down watching the news. I watched the expressions flicker across her face as she watched the news about the severely burnt woman and thought I would take the opportunity to check her knowledge of treatment. Burns look bad, particularly on that scale, and wrong treatment could cause a lot of harm, although they're not something we commonly have to deal with. She did not hesitate with her response and I continued to push to get everything I could of her. I reassured her that her knowledge was correct and hoped she knew how proud I was of her. I feel the pager on my belt go off and check it.

The call is for down in the gym so I grabbed my bag and led the way down by stair, at least we were going down, not up and this is quicker than waiting for the lift. "I want you to take control of whatever this is" I tell her "and talk out loud about what you're doing and why." I assume that being in the gym it is likely to be a cut, sprain, broken bone or someone unconscious, and I know she can cope with any of them.

I open the door and let her go in ahead of me. She pauses in the doorway and starts to look around, noticing an apparently unconscious casualty lying in the boxing ring. A good chance for her to show off her basic primary survey.

"As he appears to be unconscious I would run through DR ABC. So I'm assessing the scene for the DANGER that has caused the casualty to become unconscious, is the danger still there and would I be putting myself at risk by approaching? It appears that the thing that caused him to become unconscious was Cal, so I think it's safe to approach." I smile at that and follow her as she approaches where Beam is currently asleep on his back and Cal is stood with his hands by his side.

"Now I'll check for a RESPONSE. Beam if you can hear me can you open your eyes?" she pulled back and looked at him to see if there was any response before checking to see if her responded to her tapping his on the shoulders. When he still failed to respond she went about testing his pain responses by pinching his ear lobes and the back off his hand. Unsurprisingly there was still nothing, when Cal wants you unconscious it'll last a while. I looked at Cal to find out what had happened, he glared at Beam and decided to test him himself by nudging him in his ribs on the right hand side of his body, which were already turning black and blue.

Steph moved on "I need to check that his AIRWAY is clear, please can you give me some gloves." I handed her some gloves out of my kit pleased that she remembered the need to wear gloves, something she usually seemed to forget but that is vital in protecting herself. She put one hand on his forehead to tilt his head back carefully and put her thumb under his chin and first and second finger on top of it. She then used the fingers on his chin to pull it down to check there was no blockage in his mouth.

"His mouth is clear so I need to check that he is BREATHING" t was clear so she leant her head down so her cheek was close to his mouth so she would feel him exhale and she was facing down the length of his body with her eyes on his chest, looking for any movement. She remained like this for 10 seconds.

"He's breathing so I'm going to check for any other injuries and bleeding that could cause problems with the CIRCULATION of his blood. As he's only wearing shorts I can see there is no major external bleeding that needs controlling so I'm going to do the more thorough secondary body check at the same time." She lightly used her hands to run over him to feel for any blood or deformities that could show an injury. She started at his head and the back of his neck, then ran her hands down either arm and over his torso, although she was clearly careful with his ribs, keeping her eyes on his face, looking for any involuntary signs of pain. She moved on to trying to reach behind his back to find any abnormalities that would indicate a spinal injury. She continued checking down to his pelvis to check that it wasn't broken before checking down each leg. When she reached his right ankle pain showed clearly on his face and the slight swelling indicated trauma. "He's injured his ankle, I don't know if it's broken or sprained. Do you have something that we could use to keep it more stable?" I grabbed a couple of towels that she could use to pad around it for a bit of protection.

"I'm happy that there is no life threatening injury, so we need to protect his airway by putting him into the recovery position." She moved around to his right hand side and stretched the arm on that side out straight so it was at 90o to the rest of his body. She then reached over and took hold of his left hand, bringing in to the right side of his face with the palm of his hand facing towards her and used her right hand to hold it there. With her left hand she reached down to his left knee and raised it so the knee was bent and his left foot was near his right knee. "Bobby, please can you support and turn his right foot as I roll him over" I done as requested as she pulled the knee she was holding towards her and his body rolled onto its injured side.

"Man, that's gotta hurt" Binkie said "Couldn't you have done it so he was lying on his unhurt side?"

"He deserves it" Cal chipped in.

I looked at Steph for a response. "No, putting him on the injured side has two purposes. The first is it gives the unhurt side the maximum capacity to allow him to breath, the second is that it helps prevent the damaged ribs moving if they are in or close to the lung to prevent any further damage." She adjusted Beam's position to make him more comfortable and ensure that his airway was still clear and sat back on her heals.

She really is a natural at this. "Excellent" I told her "Your approach and treatment have been exactly what I would have done." She gave a perfect smile and looked around the room.

"Good job Nightingale" Cal praised and then added "even if he didn't deserve it!" at a much quieter level. I don't know if he didn't mean to say it or if he just didn't want Steph to hear it.

"What did he do anyway?" Steph wanted to know. Cal flickered his eyes at her and then back to me.

"You don't want to know." He told her. I guessed from that Beam had said or done something in offense against Steph and Cal wanted to protect her. I'd find out from him later. Everyone knows if you do something to harm Steph you face the wrath of all at Rangeman.

A groan alerted us to the fact that Beam was coming around. By now Steph had got up from beside him and had gone to attend to Cal's knuckles. She looked at Beam and went to look after him, but Cal prevented her from doing so "Aren't you going to treat me now?" He pouted. I couldn't believe Cal pouted. I'd give him crap for that later.

I made my way over to Beam and assessed him as he awoke and then tested him to make sure he'd be ok. "What the hell?" he asked. He then noticed Cal and Steph "Oh yeah". It seemed his memory hadn't been affected, a good sign.

"Steph, do you want to come observe as I test him for concussion?" Another test, would she want to continue to learn new skills or was she happy with just learning basic first aid?

"Of course. Will you be ok for a little while Cal?" she checked with him and at his nod she made her way over.

"What is she going to be treating us now? With her history she'll do more harm than good, I don't want her anywhere near me!" Now I understood why Cal had taken him to the matts. I wanted to knock him out myself. Cal Stepped forward ready to defend her again, but Steph stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"If he doesn't want me to treat him then I won't. Next time I'll leave him to choke. Let's go look after your hand upstairs."

"Keep your phone on, I'll call if I need you" I told her as they walked out leaving me to deal with this moron. I'd hoped that today I would be able to build up her confidence and show her how much she was appreciated for her skills and this idiot ruins it in two sentences. I turned to the numbskull "I'm going to treat you now because it's my job. But once you're better you'll be meeting me on the matts. Steph is fully qualified to treat you and she is the one that looked after you when we were first called down. If you don't have anything nice to say about her then I recommend you keep your mouth shut in the future otherwise you'll be looking for a new job." I ran through the standard tests to check him for concussion and decided it was only mild and he should be fine but recommended that he take it easy for the rest of the day.

I went upstairs and spoke with Tank, letting him know what had happened and recommended that he be put on monitor duty for at least the next three weeks to give him plenty of time to recover and after that he should be allowed to do surveillance in low risk situations. It wasn't that I was concerned it would take him that long to recover from this concussion but I suspect that he will be taken to gym a few times over the next few days and that will take longer to recover from. And he deserved the boring work so he could take the shifts that Cal and Steph were supposed to do.

Once my recommendations were passed on I went to find my partner to continue our day together.

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><p>If you come across an unconscious patient the DR ABC steps is what we were advised to do, however this guidance changes on a regular basis, and I suspect it will change depending on where you live. Please remember your safety is the most important thing and be careful when entering a scene. They could have been left unconscious because of a gas that they have breathed in and if you go into where they are you could also become overcome and be of no help. If in doubt call for help and try to get the casualties attention in another way. Electricity is also a danger, if they are still connected to the source of electricity try and get the patient away from it by using a non conductive material (suck as a long wooden pole) but remember electricity can travel several meters underground.<p>

A primary body check would be a quick once over of the body, checking for spinal injuries and major bleeds that need to be dealt with immediately. Once this is done a secondary, more thorough check would be done for any lesser injuries. In this case as he is not wearing much it makes sense to do the primary and secondary checks together.

If there is someone who has suffered head injuries or who has been unconscious please advise them to seek professional medical help as things can be a lot more serious than they appear.


	7. A day with Bobby and Steph Part 3

A day with Bobby and Steph Part 3

Nothing major happens in this chapter, but Cal demanded the opportunity to speak and I couldn't say no. Turns out Cal can be very chatty when he wants to be so this is the longest chapter by far.

Thank you to trhodes9, my fabulous new beta for cleaning this up and getting rid of some of my britishisms. I've really enjoyed our chats.  
>Thanks also to my regular reviewers including bgrgrmpy and Barb4psu, your support means a lot.<p>

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><p>Cal POV<p>

I am so angry it is hard to concentrate on what I need to do. My hands are throbbing, but I can mostly ignore that by concentrating on the needs of my Nightingale.

I have always respected Steph for what she does, it's not an easy job to do and is typically male dominated, and yet she is more successful than most of us. Although I served with some females in the Seals they were often those who had been through a lot already and had been hardened against the world allowing them to do their jobs.

When I joined Rangeman the only females involved were Ella and Jeanne Ellen. Ella was a substitute mother for many of us who either don't have one any longer or who don't get to see them very often. Jeanne Ellen is definitely not a motherly type. She is hard as nails and skilled at achieving her objective, but not good with people. While she has been considered Ranger's equivalent in skill she doesn't have the ability to deal with people and is a real lone wolf.

Like most of the men the first time I heard about Steph I thought she was a little girl out of her league looking for adventure like a bored housewife. She really gained our notice when she brought the cop in by herself. I think the way she achieved it should've been the warning we needed that she was a force to be reckoned with. Over time as she continued working and making captures she slowly earned our respect, even though she achieved it in unconventional ways.

When Ranger started assigning guard detail we looked forward to the amusement it would bring. She provided light relief where there generally isn't much to laugh about. Having her sister's water break on me is one of the low points in my career to date, but it was the first time I got to spend time with Steph, even if it wasn't long.

We all knew that if she really put her mind to it she could get a lot better at her job. Her instincts are some of the best I've seen, but her skills some of the worst. When she finally decided to make an effort to improve we all jumped at the chance to help her. Woody started working with her at improving her aim and Zip started working with her to improve her B & E skills.

She started going to a local gym and taking both aerobic and weight classes to improve her fitness and strength. While it is completely different to what we do she was adamant that it was what worked for her and if she tried our methods she would get bored. To prove that it does still provide a good work out she invited some of us to take part in her classes.

I was one of the fools that decided to come along and Lester, Ram and Bobby, our resident ladies men also signed up. It started good, all the women avoided us, although she did leave us to talk with a group that she obviously knew and they kept looking our way. Us guys had made a pact before going that we wouldn't show off... well too much anyway. The young looking instructor entered and raised an eyebrow at the unusual additions to her class but decided not to say anything. She spent a couple of minutes sorting herself out and the women in the room formed themselves into lines and we split up to copy them. The instructor pushed play and a track began to play as she moved to the centre of the front and started a series of moves. We all attempted to follow as the women appeared to know what was going to happen and moved in synchronisation.

The men in the room were not as good. Even Lester who considered himself a smooth mover was struggling and the instructor kept checking that we were ok and letting us know it is ok to struggle, the others had been doing this routine for a few weeks and so knew what they were doing and we'd get there eventually. By the end of the first track we were already sweating and embarrassingly slightly out of breath, how we would get through the next hour I didn't know.

We did make it through the first class, but by the end we were a mess, and Steph looked smug. "Easy is it? Definitely not the same level as running on a treadmill". None of us responded, we were trying to catch our breath still. "Seeing as it is such an easy class I like to hang around for the weights class that will start in half an hour, you're welcome to stay if you like. Of course if you don't think you can handle it you can go back to Rangeman." The minx, how were we supposed to walk away now without losing face?

We should have walked away anyway, but none of us did. When we work out we generally use a lot of weight with fewer reps to gain maximum gain with minimum time commitment. I'd always thought that it was as good as or better than doing it with lower weight but more reps. Turns out I was wrong again and so were the others. When they advised us to use a lot less weight than we usually would I thought dropping it by a couple of kilos was enough. It wasn't. An hour later and I wasn't even sure I could walk back to Rangeman. I still don't know how I made it. The four of us vowed never to speak of that day again and that night we went out drinking to use that as our excuse for not getting up and working out the following day. The reality was we could barely move which was something that hadn't happened since basic training.

It did highlight the problems with our existing workouts and we all changed the way we do it each day. A couple of months later we all went back to do it again to redeem ourselves and we did do better the second time and after the classes I joined up and started attending with Steph 3 times a week. Any time someone tries to give us crap they are challenged to give it a go. When they do most of them get as thoroughly embarrassed as we did.

I liked that it also gave me time to spend with my Nightingale. When I think back to that day I am so thankful it was her there with me and not some of the other guys. Many may have known that a valve was needed to prevent lung collapse, but without the appropriate field kit I don't know how many of them would have been able to come up with an on the spot quick fix out of materials to hand. As far as I see it she saved my life and I will be in her debt for the rest of her life.

Shortly after that day I started calling her Nightingale as she is my Florence Nightingale. I have heard that her family were not supportive of her in the same way the Florence's family did not support her in her career choice. Yet both of them went against their families to do what they thought was right and go against societies expectations to look after injured soldiers. I made a vow to look out for her and protect her in any way I can.

Today that meant calling a small minded nitwit to a place that I could make a good attempt at knocking some sense into an unusually small mind. I had been sat with Binkie on monitors, one of which was showing Steph and Bobby on the roof talking about his medical career when Beans approached from behind to take over.

"Man, you were brave to let her touch you. I wouldn't let her within 5 foot of me for fear she'd accidently kill me. I mean she injures herself so much it's no surprise she wanted to learn first aid so she could repair herself without wasting any more of Bobby's time but anyone that lets her near them is a few sandwiches short of a picnic." The insult to me didn't bother me; I've been called a lot worse. The insult to Steph however, I could not let go.

Bean's partner Romeo showed up just as I was standing up. I looked at Binkie and he nodded and turned back to the monitors. Excellent. "Gym, now" was all I stated before walking off to the gym. If he didn't understand what that meant then there is no hope for him. Being called to the gym by a more senior member of staff means only one thing.

When I got to the gym I went to the locker room and changed into my workout shorts and went to the matt's throwing my top to the side. I start stretching and wait for the little ignoramus to show his face. A couple of minutes later he stepped into the ring. I levelled a long look at him but remained silent knowing the weed would crack.

"Don't know what your problem is. I ain't done nothing wrong!" Ranger seriously hired this guy? He's not stupid, he's beyond stupid, and how he's survived this long I don't know. I'm glad he isn't my partner, doesn't he realised he just admitted to having done something? Normally I wouldn't talk while sparing but I thought I'd try out some insults on him that Steph had taught me on a particularly boring stakeout.

"It's a shame there's no cure for your illness." I waited for him to bite, he already looked confused.

"Which illness?" I'm concerned that he clearly has so many illnesses that he has to ask.

"Stupidity." I hear a bark of laughter nearby, clearly someone is watching and enjoying this.

"But I ain't stupid!" I let out a sigh; there really is no helping some people.

"I looked up stupid in the dictionary the other day and it had a picture of you beside it. I mean, only someone truly stupid would insult Bomber in this building." I heard a few people suck in air and a voice pipe up.

"He's not stupid; he's possessed by a retarded ghost!" Well, I guess him being possessed would explain how he came to work here; I assume it happened after he was employed.

"Yeah, he's the kind of man that you could use as a blueprint to build an idiot!" another voice piped up, distracting my target. I got in a couple of swings and heard his ribs crack. Too easy.

"Ouch! But she's always messing up and we have to put our lives at risk to save her!" Will he ever learn?

"I'd like to see things from your point of view" I told him leaving a pause for dramatic effect "but I can't get my head that far up by butt!" Howls of laughter surrounded us, causing him to look away and I got in a good kidney jab. He bent over and I decided I'd had enough fun, beating someone this easy is not the challenge I want "I'd leave you with a thought, but I don't think you have anywhere to keep it" and with that I turned his lights out, but on his way down he twisted his ankle.

Really, he got off fairly lightly, but I know Nightingale is helping Bobby today and I don't want her to have to deal with him too messed up. A moment later she came into the room like a beacon of light and I heard Bobby instruct her to look after him and talk through what she was doing. Part of me wanted to pull her away and tell her to leave the scum as he doesn't deserve her care. But I know she needs the chance to practice her skills and it seems like sweet revenge on him for her to look after him when he'd defenceless.

When she rolled him onto his cracked ribs I could guess how much pain that would cause and almost felt guilty. Almost but not quite. It really was amazing to watch the way she dealt with it, knowing exactly what to do, and I know if anything was wrong she would know how to react. Once she was finished with him she looked at Bobby and I could clearly see his pride in her and felt the same way. He praised her treatment and I added my own.

"Good job Nightingale" I told her and then added "even if he didn't deserve it!" although I hoped she wouldn't hear it. Of course she did hear it and wanted to know why he was taking a nap, but there's no way I could tell her. I know Ranger wants her to start helping out as Bobby's second but despite everything she has done she still doubts her skills and building up her confidence is key to getting her to stay and telling her what he said would not help with that.

She had come over and was delicately looking at by bruised and slightly bloody knuckles. She was so gentle there was almost no pain. We heard schnook let out a pained moan and Nightingale moved to go and give him further treatment, but I knew that was not a good idea so I pouted at her and asked if she could treat me instead, knowing Bobby would take over the douchebag's treatment.

Bobby asked her if she wanted to learn about concussion and when she asked for my permission I wanted to refuse, knowing something bad would happen, but I couldn't without insulting her. Then the jerk opened his giant trap and spewed the same vitriol from upstairs in front of her proving me correct in my assumptions. Doing it in front of Bobby and some of the other guys sealed his fate for the next few days. I doubted this would be the last time he was unconscious. But still I wanted to do it myself for a second time and was only stopped by my Nightingale placing a calming hand on my chest. And when she said "If he doesn't want me to treat him then I won't. Next time I'll leave him to choke. Let's go look after your hand upstairs." it broke my heart a little. I knew she would never leave him to choke no matter how nasty he was to her.

I grabbed my top, pulled it on and took her up to my flat so she could clean my hands and now I'm struggling to keep in the anger I still feel at the twerp downstairs but right now Nightingale needed me.

"Is that really what people think? Would they really rather suffer than let me look after them?" Her self-doubt killed me. "Is that what you thought? Did you want me to leave you alone but you were too weak to tell me to?"

I lifted her so she was sat on the kitchen counter and looked her straight in her sad blue eyes so she knew I was serious in what I was about to say. "I never want to hear you say that again. What you have been doing is amazing. You saved my life and every man in this building admires you for what you do. If you let that small minded zealot get to you then he wins. I'm insulted you would trust one insult from him over the praise of all the rest of the men in Rangeman who respect and love you for all the positivity you bring to us. Please believe me when I tell you that you are the most amazing woman in the world and we are lucky to have you in our lives. I would trust you over him any day."

I watched as a tear fell from her eye and wiped it away before hugging her to me. I heard a whispered "thank you" a held her slightly tighter to me. We pulled away some time later and I made a decision to show her how much I care in a way she would understand.

One of my favourite things to do is cook and I know in Steph's family they show their emotions through food. It was still slightly early for lunch but what I had in mind would take an hour or so, but it would be worth it, as long as she isn't called away, but if she is I could reheat it later and it would be just as good. I felt a moment of guilt for Binkie and Romeo who were still stuck on monitors as far as I knew, but someone would relieve them at some point.

"I was going to make myself one of my favourite meals for lunch, would you like some? I can guarantee it is not a salad and tastes great." I knew I had done the right thing as I watched her face light up like a child at Disney world. "Good, you can help." I watched her face fall, I know she sees herself as a bad cook but there really isn't a way to mess up grating cheese "Don't worry, nothing difficult. Can you grate me this cheese?" I requested handing her the cheese and grater.

She jumped down off the side and started to grate the cheese. While she was doing that I grabbed some pasta out of the cupboard and put it on to boil in a pan and got another small pan out and got some butter, milk and plain flour out and put next to me with two desert spoons and a small hand held whisk. I then put a Pyrex dish on the side and turned the oven on to 180o. As I finished getting ready Steph let me know the cheese was ready.

"Ok so the pasta is on and we're going to make a cheese sauce." I saw Steph looking around "What are you looking for?"

"The packet of mix," she replied

I let out a bark of laughter "That is not cheese sauce; this is how you make proper cheese sauce." I turned the heat on under the small pan but kept it low. "We start by melting a spoon of butter in the pan, so put it in" I handed her the butter and spoon. She looked down at the items in her hands.

"How much?"

" A spoonful." She dug the spoon into the butter and pulled a lump out showing it to me. I nodded and she dumped it in to the pan.

"Now we just wait for it to melt. This time I'll show you how to do the rest, but next time you can do it all ok?" The look she gave me clearly said 'yeah right, not going to happen'. When the butter was nearly melted I asked for a tablespoon of flour of about the same volume as the butter she gave me. She pulled some out of the bag "Ok dump it in the pan"

"With the butter or pasta?"

"The butter." she put it in and I began whisking the two together "This is called a roux and is used as the basis for a lot of white sauces. We need to keep it moving so it doesn't burn, but before we add the milk we need to leave it long enough to cook the flour otherwise you can taste it later on. Incidentally a similar base is used for some pastries, such as profiteroles. Now it's cooked a bit add a little bit of milk at a time. She put a splash of milk in the pan. "See how the milk actually thickens the roux? That's normal and we just keep adding it a bit at a time until it starts to look like a white sauce." We spent the next few minutes doing this until it turned into a thick sauce then added little more to loosen it up a bit. "Well done!" I encouraged. "Did you see how easy that was? And that was the hardest bit, now add a handful of the cheese, let it melt a bit and then add another handful and there you have it a cheese sauce, no additives or preservatives, a fraction of the cost and much better for you than the packet stuff. Plus it tastes a lot better."

"That was a lot easier than I thought. It's amazing." I was pleased that she thought so and hoped that it was a recipe she might use in the future. "Is that what you would use to make mac and cheese?"

"Yep," I smiled "It's exactly the same. Now can you open and drain these for me?" I handed her two tins of tuna with a can opener. While she was doing that I drained the pasta and put it in the bowl before adding the tune Steph handed me, poured the cheese sauce over the top and then the remaining grated cheese topped the dish off. "Perfect. Thanks for your help." I picked the finished disk off and put it in the oven, setting the timer for 30 minutes.

"It looks tasty, I didn't expect anyone here to make something so" A knock at the door interrupted her sentence and I walked over to see who it is.

"I hear you have my partner in here?" Bobby wanted to know. I stepped back to let him in. I hoped that he wasn't coming to take her away already. He looked excitedly at the mess still left in the kitchen where Steph was finishing eating the last bits of grated cheese that I had missed. I walked over to start clearing up and Bobby followed "Please tell me you made enough for me?" He begged.

"Have you had it before?" Steph wanted to know.

"Only once, and I've never been able to get him to make it since." I finished putting everything away and had started to wipe the side down.

"Only if you do the washing up." I told him pointing to the two pans and grater that we had used. Bobby jumped up eager to help. Steph watched in amusement and he noticed.

"It's worth it. Cal is the best cook here. He rivals Ella." that was a bit of an exaggeration but I think he's just trying to secure a portion of the food still.

"In the Seals I was a chef and got used to creating decent meals out of rubbish supplies. I enjoyed it and whenever I had the opportunity to cook with good quality ingredients I liked to experiment. Bobby was one of my guinea pigs."

"But weren't you in different forces? How did that work?"

"Generally the different branches will work together to maximise skills in operations. We worked together a couple of times." I hoped that would be enough for her, we couldn't tell her much more without giving out classified information. She appeared to think about it for a couple of minutes then seemed to accept what she had been told.

"It was always good to know who the best chefs were. They were the best protected men in any operation." True.

"Surely the medic was the most important to protect? If he gets hurt then there would be no one else to treat injuries."

"Everyone who works in the field has basic first aid training in case there is not a fully trained medic able to attend. A good chef, however, is hard to replace and if he gets hurt you know you won't get decent food. You should've heard it" Bobby reminisced shaking his head and put on a high pitched voice "Protect the chef! If he gets hurt think of what we'll have to eat!" He's right, I heard that more than once his voice dropped back to normal "Napoleon was so right when he said an army marches on its stomach."

"And it isn't just an army, so do all the other forces!" I added. I had seen first had how a decent meal could improve the way a man and unit functioned. I found a pride in being able to provide something that made my comrades feel better even in the worst of circumstance.

Bobby finished the washing up and came and sat at the table to where Steph and I had retreated.

"So how did you become the chef? Did you always cook?" I took a minute to consider how to tell her this part of my story.

"No, I didn't always cook. A couple of years after joining I was severely injured in my right shoulder that nearly forced me into retirement." That was an understatement. The shot shattered the joint and part of the shrapnel from the bullet came within millimetres from my heart. It took a lot of surgery to rebuild it and I ended up with a complete replacement of the joint.

"Is that what the scar was from?" I was surprised she noticed. It doesn't bother me much now and I thought she was paying more attention to other things so she wouldn't notice. She always amazes me with her observation skills.

"Yeah. Anyway, while recovering it was suggested that I needed to do something that would help improve the use of my shoulder and cooking was suggested. Once I started I liked the idea of using my hands to do something good, which would add to life. It sort of made me feel like I'm doing something to balance to bad stuff I've done. I know it doesn't really work like that. I'm just going to take a quick shower before lunch." I hadn't worked hard enough to break into a sweat in the gym, but after thinking back to that time I needed a few moments to collect myself.

I went and had a quick shower. I hadn't thought about that period for a long time. The missions had been going so well until the moment we went to catch a bird back to base but we walked into an ambush. We all made it out alive, but for a while it was a close thing and I was certain that I'd lose my arm. What sort of life would I have without it? I'd have to leave my life as I knew it and who would want to employ an ex-SEAL with only 1 arm? I owe my current existence to the doctors who patched me back up and worked to allow me to keep my arm. It was a long and painful recovery, but it sparked my interest in food and cooking.

As I walked back in to the open plan area the timer on the oven went off indicating lunch was ready. I took the steaming dish out and put it onto the side to serve up. Once it was all plated I put the now empty cooking dish in the sink and filled it to soak before taking the plates over to where Bobby and Steph were waiting with cutlery already out.

Steph took her first bite and I waited to receive her verdict. "Oh, that is so good!" she managed to get out before she continued to dig in. At that sign I started to dig into my own. Normally I would have prepared a salad to go with the pasta, but I knew there was a good chance it would have been wasted and this was about providing her with comfort, not trying to feed her something nutritious.

Less than 10 minutes later and all plates had been cleared. "That was so good. I expected you to feed me something healthy but nothing that tasty could be good for you. Thanks, Cal" I really didn't want to tell her that it wasn't actually that bad. The pasta was wholegrain and provided a good source of carbohydrates, the cheese, milk and butter were all low fat versions and the tuna was a good source of protein. With a salad it would have been a fairly healthy meal. I might reveal that at a later date to show her that just because something is low fat it does not have to taste bad.

"You're welcome, Nightingale. Any time you want some good comfort food let me know." She started to pick up the dirty plates but then Bobby's phone went off signalling they were needed elsewhere. She got up and walked around to me leaning down to kiss my tattoo. I love it when she does that, it shows just what an accepting and loving person she is. I watched as the two of them left and got to clearing up my apartment, glad to have been able to pick her back up again enough that she didn't hesitate to go help.

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><p>Bad news is my imagination has gone AWOL and I'm struggling to write the next chapter. In the mean time if you haven't already discover it I highly recommend This Never Happened. Originally started by Jude the story has been picked up and is being continued by a collaboration and can be found on a special profile username ThisNeverHappenedII<p> 


	8. A day with Bobby and Steph Part 4

A day with Bobby and Steph part 4

This chapter has been a struggle to write. My imagination has gone AWOL and it is only the encouragement of people who have left reviews that has made me get this together. It's a lot shorter than most and a bit on the rubbish side but it's the best I can do for now.

I am a little confused. I thought that people were enjoying interactive and funny bits, the chapter with Ranger and Slick have been the top reviewed and those involving serious stuff have been lowest reviewed. The last chapter I thought people enjoy as it was not serious and yet only 5 people reviewed out of the 215 readers.

Thanks to Angela3511 for her medical and English skills. Incidentally if you haven't read Stephanie's Great Escape you should give it a go.

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><p>Ranger POV<p>

I was stood keeping an eye on the felon in front of me waiting for Bobby and Steph to arrive. It really is unfortunate that he isn't more careful going down the stairs and walking through doors. With his history, I wasn't thrilled with Steph being anywhere near him, but I wanted to show her that she is trusted in her new role.

When Steph came to me saying she wanted to work for Rangeman full time, I was relieved and pleased. Since I've known her, she has done many things to support me and my business. The early work she done was admittedly out of desperation on her part. I had admired her grit, determination and her unique methodology to capture the people she was after. Her lack of physical ability and technique were the biggest barriers she had to being successful. So I decided if she was serious about working for me, then it would be an opportunity to get her to work on improving her skills. While working on her gun and defence skills were high priorities, I felt that with her history, knowing how to do first aid would also be an advantage, either to fix those she damaged or to look after any injuries she got until help arrived.

What I hadn't expected was how well she would take to the medical training. When Bobby told me how well she had done in the training, I was pleased she could look after herself better. When I had my little accident and she jumped straight in giving effective and quick aid, I was proud and impressed. Bobby had been complaining for a while about not having enough time to do all his work and with her showing a great aptitude for the role, I considered that she might be able to assist Bobby. So far she's doing great.

The man, if you could call him that, was wanted for repeatedly abusing women, both physically and sexually. Now he understands how those women who were physically abused by him felt. I wasn't prepared to sexually assault him, and although I've done many things for my country, that isn't, and never would be, one of them.' I hadn't laid a hand on him, and neither had Tank; he really did fall down the stairs. Ok, so we did take him back up them a couple of times so he could repeatedly 'fall', but that's not the issue.

One of the injuries that he appears to have sustained is either a broken or sprained wrist. I tried to test it by manipulating it but that caused him pain. Of course, he would have felt whether it was broken or sprained. I was well aware of that before manipulating it.

A few minutes later, I heard a car pull up outside and a moment later the front door opens.

"Boss?" Bobby queried. "What happened?"

"Fell down the stairs."

"Hurt anywhere else or just the wrist?" he asked the skip.

The skip just glared at Bobby "Who's the little woman? She gonna play nurse for me?" He gave Steph a very obvious once over.

I took the safety off the gun still pointing at him. "One more comment like that and I'll shoot. Do not even look at her." I kept my voice quiet, deadly.

"What do you recommend?" Bobby looked at Steph. "It's either broken or sprained, is there an easy way to tell?"

"Not really in the wrist. Because of its makeup of so many little bones it can be difficult to feel for any fractures or breaks. It's easier to tell in other places where you could feel the alignment of the bones, but for the wrist the only way to tell for certain is by an x-ray." Her speech was quieter and less confident. She had taken a step back after the earlier comment and looked like she didn't want to be there. I hated seeing her like that and part of me wished Bobby had left her out of it entirely.

"We can either take you to A&E before taking you in or we can take you in and then they can get you checked. I think as you don't appear to be in too much pain as long as you keep it stable we'll get you booked in first. Steph, can you get me a cool pack and triangular bandage?" Bobby asked. Steph opened the kit and passed over the requested items, breaking the cool pack to start its reaction before handing it over. I watched as Bobby treated him.

He held the cool pack to the felon's wrist and got the skip to hold it in place while he unwrapped the bandage. He held the bandage so the longest side is vertical and the other point is towards his elbow with it covering the injured arm. He put the top corner over the top of the opposite shoulder then pulled the bottom corner up, carefully moving the skips arm away from his body so it could be brought up the other side. The then put that corner over the shoulder of the injured arm before tying the two ends together behind his neck pulling the sling up so it was supporting the arm and the icepack. He tucked the corner by the elbow in and checked it was all ok before turning and looking at me.

"Let's go," I said as I tucked the gun back into the holster and grabbed him by his uninjured arm. Steph walked out first, followed by Bobby, then myself and the skip. Tank locked the house up, not that it was worth it, and followed us out. Having one arm in a sling makes life a bit more difficult as it's harder to restrain him. I pulled some leg shackles out of the boot and put them on the skip. We helped him into the car; unfortunately he didn't duck enough and caught his head on the door frame. Oops. Tank then followed him into the back of the car, holding a stun gun to his arm in case he showed signs of playing up. I was tempted to do it anyway, he deserved it after what he said earlier.

Once he was secured, I went over to where Steph was stood watching. I pulled her to me and placed a light kiss on her forehead, lingering to breath in her scent. "Proud of you, Babe," I whispered to her before turning and going back to my car and getting in.

During the drive, I contemplated Steph's reaction, or lack of it, to the skip. It's not long ago that she would have flared up and had a go at him for the way he spoke to her, yet she had only taken a step back in reaction. I had noticed her quietness, but I doubt the skip would've known that he had gotten to her. She has come a remarkably long way in such a short time, I always knew she could and now she was getting the chance to fly, she was soaring.

Steph POV

I stood and watched as Ranger pulled away to take his quarry to the lock up. So far, today had been a bit odd. First, the conversation with Bobby and later with Cal. Both of them had offered me praise at my new skills and now Ranger and his "Proud of you, Babe". I'm not used to people being so nice. Usually I'm getting told what a screw up I am. I feel a little bit proud of myself and I've decided I will keep working with Bobby to improve. After everything Ranger and the Merry Men have done for me, it's nice to be able to give a little back and help them in their time of need. Knowing that I am able to help my family if every they need it is also reassuring. Maybe one day my mother will be proud of me too.

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><p>During my training I was actually taught that sometimes it's better to just leave the injured person to support the armwrist as to mess it around and put a sling on could cause more pain than it would prevent. If you've hurt your arm, you generally look after it pretty well without any help. That would be enough for most cases until the paramedics arrive or you can get the casualty to hospital. In this case I had him do it so I could tell you how to put it in a sling in case you do ever need to and because there would be an extended period before the skip can get to the hospital.

Also be careful with ice, wrap it up in cloth to avoid direct contact with skin. In some cases putting ice on a broken bone will cause a lot of pain, if this happens remove it immediately (obviously). Using ice will reduce swelling and relieve some pain (once the body gets over the short-term shock of the cold). Long-term, ice will help by reducing inflammation, swelling and pain. Use ice for the first day or so, for about 10-20 minutes at a time once per waking hour. After the first day, switch to using heating pads or warmth rather than cool to speed healing. Always listen to your doctor or other health care provider when you have a broken bone or a sprain/ strain.


End file.
